What Causes Addiction?

What Causes Addiction?

Published July 2011

The abuse of and eventual dependency on drugs and alcohol is merely a mechanism to cope with physical, mental, or emotional pain.

To stop your addiction, you must first find the underlying causes of your behaviors and why you are choosing to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol in the first place. For example, individuals who have experienced abuse, suffered from depression or anxiety, mental illness, or have significant life struggles are much more likely to begin using drugs or alcohol to numb their pain, eventually leading to dependency.

However, these factors may cause your addiction; they do not need to be yours forever. There are many ways to overcome substance abuse and help prevent relapse if you recognize your triggers and learn to cope more healthily.

In this article, we will talk about what causes addiction, how it affects the brain, why people start using drugs in the first place, and how to overcome substance abuse and prevent relapse through treatment options such as therapy and support groups.

Once you attend a treatment center and find the cause of your pain, using drugs and alcohol to numb the pain will cease once you have worked through your issues.  Relapse is very probable if you only focus on the addiction itself and not on the underlying problems.

Whether you are dealing with an undiagnosed physical ailment, childhood trauma, family problems, a chemical imbalance, or one of the many other underlying causes of addiction, one-on-one therapy is much more helpful in uncovering what is driving you to use drugs and alcohol.  Passages Malibu is a holistic drug rehab center that is highly effective in discovering underlying issues, healing addiction, and preventing relapse.